News Clips 02/15/2013

BLOG: Pro-Israeli video team questions FAU policy

A video company is accusing Florida Atlantic University of violating its First Amendment rights, after campus police kicked its representatives out of a public event.

TrentoVision, a self-described activist media group that focuses on Islamic terrorism issues, says a video cameraman was twice kicked out meetings of a group called Students for Justice in Palestine, first on Feb. 6 during a meeting of Greta Berlin, founder of the Free Gaza movement, and again on Feb. 12 during a presentation by Josh Ruebner, national advocacy director of the NUS Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation,

“The FAU police aggressively stopped the TrentoVision team from recording the exact presentation which TrentoVision would release for the world to see,” according to a release from TrentoVision.

“The sponsoring organization requested that no attendees videotape and/or photograph the guest lecturers they were hosting in the Student Union,” Metcalf said.

A video company is accusing Florida Atlantic University of violating its First Amendment rights, after campus police kicked its representatives out of a public meeting.

TrentoVision, a self-described activist media group that focuses on Islamic terrorism issues, says a video cameraman was twice kicked out meetings of a group called Students for Justice in Palestine, first on Feb. 6 during a meeting of Greta Berlin, founder of the Free Gaza movement, and again on Feb. 12 during a presentation by Josh Ruebner, national advocacy director of the NUS Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation,

“The FAU police aggressively stopped the TrentoVision team from recording the exact presentation which TrentoVision would release for the world to see,” according to a release from TrentoVision.

“The sponsoring organization requested that no attendees videotape and/or photograph the guest lecturers they were hosting in the Student Union,” Metcalf said.

Students groups on campus are allowed to keep out media or anyone else from events, as long as they properly reserved the space and aren’t discriminating based on federally protected classes, such as race, religion, age, sex or national origin, said Adam Goldstein, a lawyer with the Student Press Law Center in Arlington, Va.

Goldstein said the request to remove visitors must be initiated by the group holding the event, not the university.

Tensions between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian groups have been high on campus during the past year. Last April, mock eviction notices with anti-Israeli sentiments were taped on the doors of more than 200 dorm room doors at FAU.

Take a look at the video and see what you think. Is this an acceptable FAU policy or a violation of TrentoVision's First Amendment rights?